15 Sep 2012
Ballooning in Drumheller
We got the whole family up in a hot air balloon this morning. We’ve joined the folks from the Calgary Balloon Club for their fall fly-in that they have each September in Drumheller. It was really quite amazing to be drifting over the town and along the Red Deer River. At one point were were floating along the river not more than 18 inches from the surface of the water – it was incredible. About halfway through the flight we landed briefly in a small field and swapped passengers – Steven and Mark jumped into the basket while Alyssa and I jumped out. As soon as we’d switched, the pilot gave a long blast on the burner and off the balloon went for the second leg of the flight. That was cool.
A trip in a hot air balloon has been one of the things that Brenda has wanted to do for a long time. A couple of years ago we purchased a balloon flight for two at a charity auction, but it was in the fall and we couldn’t line up weather and schedules. The months went by, we got busy but tried again last year with the same result.
Through Brenda’s work at the museum, she realized that the balloon that we’d been trying to get a flight on was owned by the president of the balloon club. He invited us out this weekend to join the club and we’ve been having a great weekend. We had dinner with the club members last night when we got to Drumheller, flew this morning and had brunch together afterwards. We’ll help out with the flights planned for tonight and tomorrow as well.
What a great weekend!
